The 1996 season of the Madaba Plains Project consisted of seven weeks of fieldwork carried out between June 16 and July 31 1996. In addition to continued excavations and sub-surface mapping endeavors at Tall al Umayri and Tall Jalul restoration of Tall Hisban as a tourism site was also begun.

The Madaba Plains Project is an outgrowth of the Tall Hisban Expedition which was concluded in 1976. It began in 1984 with the launching of archaeological excavations at Tall al Umayri, a site located about 10 kilometers south of Amman next to the Amman National Park. In 1992 excavations were also begun at Tall Jalul, a very large archaeological mound located circa 5 kilometers due east of Madaba and circa 25 kilometers south of Amman. A major reason for undertaking excavations at these two sites was to learn more about the third and second millennia BC (known as the Bronze Age) about which Tall Hisban had been largely silent. Another reason for undertaking this new project was to deepen understanding of the environmental and economic history of the whole of Central Transjordan especially with regard to changes over time in commercial activity and local food production. To this end intensive investigation of the landscape surrounding both of these sites were also undertaken. After six seasons of fieldwork the project has greatly increased our knowledge of the way of life of the Bronze Age inhabitants of Central Jordan and has revolutionized our understanding of the history of the Ammonites and their neighbors, the Moabites and the Israelites ...